Well, the run-on holiday season is approaching at the
speed of light. The stores are combining Halloween,
Thanksgiving and Christmas into one swirl making it
harder to separate them. We had another successful
Anniversary season with our annual golf outing, a new
endeavor with Laura Shanahan packing holiday boxes
for our deployed personnel, the Remembrance Ceremony, Picnic, Hall of
Honor, and Saturday night Banquet. Very special this year: four great
HOH inductees and an outstanding banquet guest speaker, General Mike
Hayden. Maj "Meat" Waters led a dedicated AF ISR Agency team, with
significant help from key FTVA Board members, through a gauntlet of
activities and "devils in the details" mine-field pretty much
unscathed. Unfortunately, recent changes in the Air Force have made it
harder to get on base without an ID card (even though the process had
been fully coordinated with the base security forces in advance); and no
fly-overs or 21-gun salutes due to money issues, etc. The AF ISR
Agency (now 25th Air Force) team will continue to refine our
checklists. If you have ideas on how we can improve these activities,
please let us know so we can pass them on to our Active Duty team.

Now that the AF ISR Agency has reorganized into 25th Air Force, it's
now Six Shields over Security Hill instead of Six Flags over Texas. The
organization is back under Air Combat Command (ACC) like we were in
2001. This time we are a Numbered Air Force vs a Primary Subordinate
Unit (PSU). We have added the 55th Wing at Offutt AFB that fly RC-
135s, EC-130s and E-4Bs and the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale
AFB flying U-2Rs, RQ-4s (Global Hawk), and the MC-12s (Project
Liberty aircraft). So, we have the iron and the back-end under one
organization for the first time. NASIC was left under the AF/A2.

Bottom line, nothing has changed for the FTVA. We continue to support
25th AF, its units, and especially its people. Over the years, some unit
nomenclatures may have changed and some locations may have changed,
but they still do the same, critical missions we were all a part of back â€˜in
the dayâ€™. So if you hear about an old/young intelligence command
buddy you worked with and they aren't a FTVA member, encourage
them to join our fraternity of brother/sister silent warriors. From Korea
to Desert Shield/Storm, to countless other conflicts to the present day,
there is no better way for all of us to "Remain in Touch" than the FTVA.